J. Putnam Henck, Santa's Village builder was 91

Henck was known in the San Bernardino Mountains as the builder and manager of the Santa's Village amusement park in Skyforest, and as a keeper of the mountain communities' past. Henck got some attention in 2004 for refusing to evacuate during a major wildfire, even though as he noted (then age 86) that this one "burned hotter" than the countless others he survived. Henck was born in Los Angeles in 1918, lived in the mountains since 1923, and died this morning, according to Rim of the World.net.

Postcard photo of Santa's Village, which opened just before Disneyland in 1955.